DisneyFive
When is the 3:00 parade?
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2011
- Messages
- 5,087
Just wanted to report back that WDW is still a wonderful place to visit! 
This trip was fantastic! Lower than expected crowds, very few down rides, excellent food, and surprisingly nice weather.
Our previous 5 trips have all been the last week of September with free dining, so that is our reference point. This was our first trip in early August, and we were pretty nervous about the crowds and weather.
Crowds:
Not sure what to say... crowds were lower than expected. They felt like our typical September crowds or maybe just a tad higher, but not by much. Touring plans had predicted mostly 7’s to 10’s, but our actual crowd levels were 2’s to 5’s! This is what we’re used to in September. Not sure what happened, but we weren’t complaining. Rope drop was still critical if you wanted to ride headliners that you couldn’t get FP+’s for though. Line waits were very manageable overall.
Weather:
We were blessed with awesome weather. It rained most afternoons somewhere in the area, or at least there were typically rain clouds, but in our 10 days in the parks we only had to get out our umbrellas once for about 15 minutes! We zigged while the rain zagged I guess. Plus, the temps were in the mid to high 80’s instead of typical low 90’s. Weather for this trip was better than some of our September trips.
Dining:
We did not purchase a dining plan, but rather paid out of pocket. Food was excellent, with the TS locations much less crowded than we’re used to. Now that we’ve visited when free dining isn’t offered, we noticed that free dining in September really does drive up crowds in the restaurants. We noticed them much more accessible and less crowded this trip by a significant margin.
Cape May’s continues to be a favorite, and we ate there twice. It didn’t disappoint. Another that we love, but can get mixed reviews here, is Coral Reef. I have to say that the Mahi Mahi, rainbow trout, and strip steak were all excellent this trip, a real highlight. Ohana was good as usual, but we always feel like we’re wasting so much food there. There is always a lot of noodles, wings, pot stickers, and salad left after the meal, and I feel like I’m getting stuffed by those items before the meats and shrimp even arrive.
Cast Members:
Cast members overall were very good. Nothing really stood out as exceptional, but they were overall helpful. I do feel that there has been a general slide over the last 6 years though. Cast members seem to be a little more casual with park visitors, rather than “being on stage” for them. I noticed more work talk between CM’s while visitors were standing right there overhearing. One negative that stood out was a fairly obnoxious CM on the last ride of Soarin one of our nights. We got in line right at 9pm and ended up being the very last ride in that theater. The CM CRANKED up the mic, and gave instructions in a very accentuated, sarcastic way. It was really weird. It was meant to be funny, but ended up mostly being awkward for everyone.
New rides and attractions:
Mostly loved the new Soarin film. Beautiful scenes, good locations, clear film, and a good sense of flight. I don’t really appreciate the surprise, startling transitions between so many of the clips though. The golf ball in the old film was great since it only happened once, but this once overdoes it IMO. Also, if you are not in the middle section (section B), some of the scenery can look very skewed. This is due to the shape of the screen. The top of the Eifel tower curves like crazy, as do other things in the film. Very noticeable. We asked to be seated in the middle section (and we prefer top row) for our subsequent rides. That fixed the issue.
Frozen ever after was very nice. Glad we had FP’s for it, because I wouldn’t have wanted to wait that long on standby, but I loved how immersive the scenes were and the details throughout the ride. Very well done overall. Please don’t flame be, but I felt it was a monumental improvement over the old Maelstrom which I didn’t feel was even FP worthy.
Star Wars. I can really see how HS is going to be a very fun park to visit with all the Star Wars stuff being added. The storm trooper march was really fun to watch, and meeting Kylo Ren was great. The Galactic Spectacular (or whatever it’s called) was an awesome new addition. We sat in front of the stage about an hour before the show and had a great view once the show started. Very fun, exciting show. Star Wars is going to be a huge plus for HS for quite some time to come.
The safari ride at AK at dusk/dark was a bust. Could hardly see anything. The only saving grace was that we finally saw the lions up and walking around. That was cool.
While not exactly new, the new HUB is great. We found a spot to sit about an hour before Wishes and had our best viewing ever. I like that they took away the FP+ sections like they had on our previous trip. The open seating is much preferred.
Resort
Port Orleans Riverside. We love POR. Bus service at POR was the best we’ve ever had. They seemed to arrive much more often than previous stays there. We loved our room in building 38 (garden view). I requested that building on purpose, and it was our best yet, with a very nice setting. Only a 4 minute walk to the food court, and close to the north bus depot. Food court: The make your own pasta dish is fantastic for only $12. It easily feeds two people and tastes great. We walked over to the POFQ pool a couple of nights, and that was a fun to do as we hadn’t swam there before.
Overall
It’s sucky
that our visit is over, but we were getting pretty tired by our 10th park day. 
However, I wouldn’t hesitate to go back. 
Feel free to ask any questions, and I’ll try to answer.
Dan
This trip was fantastic! Lower than expected crowds, very few down rides, excellent food, and surprisingly nice weather.Our previous 5 trips have all been the last week of September with free dining, so that is our reference point. This was our first trip in early August, and we were pretty nervous about the crowds and weather.
Crowds:
Not sure what to say... crowds were lower than expected. They felt like our typical September crowds or maybe just a tad higher, but not by much. Touring plans had predicted mostly 7’s to 10’s, but our actual crowd levels were 2’s to 5’s! This is what we’re used to in September. Not sure what happened, but we weren’t complaining. Rope drop was still critical if you wanted to ride headliners that you couldn’t get FP+’s for though. Line waits were very manageable overall.
Weather:
We were blessed with awesome weather. It rained most afternoons somewhere in the area, or at least there were typically rain clouds, but in our 10 days in the parks we only had to get out our umbrellas once for about 15 minutes! We zigged while the rain zagged I guess. Plus, the temps were in the mid to high 80’s instead of typical low 90’s. Weather for this trip was better than some of our September trips.
Dining:
We did not purchase a dining plan, but rather paid out of pocket. Food was excellent, with the TS locations much less crowded than we’re used to. Now that we’ve visited when free dining isn’t offered, we noticed that free dining in September really does drive up crowds in the restaurants. We noticed them much more accessible and less crowded this trip by a significant margin.
Cape May’s continues to be a favorite, and we ate there twice. It didn’t disappoint. Another that we love, but can get mixed reviews here, is Coral Reef. I have to say that the Mahi Mahi, rainbow trout, and strip steak were all excellent this trip, a real highlight. Ohana was good as usual, but we always feel like we’re wasting so much food there. There is always a lot of noodles, wings, pot stickers, and salad left after the meal, and I feel like I’m getting stuffed by those items before the meats and shrimp even arrive.
Cast Members:
Cast members overall were very good. Nothing really stood out as exceptional, but they were overall helpful. I do feel that there has been a general slide over the last 6 years though. Cast members seem to be a little more casual with park visitors, rather than “being on stage” for them. I noticed more work talk between CM’s while visitors were standing right there overhearing. One negative that stood out was a fairly obnoxious CM on the last ride of Soarin one of our nights. We got in line right at 9pm and ended up being the very last ride in that theater. The CM CRANKED up the mic, and gave instructions in a very accentuated, sarcastic way. It was really weird. It was meant to be funny, but ended up mostly being awkward for everyone.
New rides and attractions:
Mostly loved the new Soarin film. Beautiful scenes, good locations, clear film, and a good sense of flight. I don’t really appreciate the surprise, startling transitions between so many of the clips though. The golf ball in the old film was great since it only happened once, but this once overdoes it IMO. Also, if you are not in the middle section (section B), some of the scenery can look very skewed. This is due to the shape of the screen. The top of the Eifel tower curves like crazy, as do other things in the film. Very noticeable. We asked to be seated in the middle section (and we prefer top row) for our subsequent rides. That fixed the issue.
Frozen ever after was very nice. Glad we had FP’s for it, because I wouldn’t have wanted to wait that long on standby, but I loved how immersive the scenes were and the details throughout the ride. Very well done overall. Please don’t flame be, but I felt it was a monumental improvement over the old Maelstrom which I didn’t feel was even FP worthy.
Star Wars. I can really see how HS is going to be a very fun park to visit with all the Star Wars stuff being added. The storm trooper march was really fun to watch, and meeting Kylo Ren was great. The Galactic Spectacular (or whatever it’s called) was an awesome new addition. We sat in front of the stage about an hour before the show and had a great view once the show started. Very fun, exciting show. Star Wars is going to be a huge plus for HS for quite some time to come.
The safari ride at AK at dusk/dark was a bust. Could hardly see anything. The only saving grace was that we finally saw the lions up and walking around. That was cool.
While not exactly new, the new HUB is great. We found a spot to sit about an hour before Wishes and had our best viewing ever. I like that they took away the FP+ sections like they had on our previous trip. The open seating is much preferred.
Resort
Port Orleans Riverside. We love POR. Bus service at POR was the best we’ve ever had. They seemed to arrive much more often than previous stays there. We loved our room in building 38 (garden view). I requested that building on purpose, and it was our best yet, with a very nice setting. Only a 4 minute walk to the food court, and close to the north bus depot. Food court: The make your own pasta dish is fantastic for only $12. It easily feeds two people and tastes great. We walked over to the POFQ pool a couple of nights, and that was a fun to do as we hadn’t swam there before.
Overall
It’s sucky
that our visit is over, but we were getting pretty tired by our 10th park day. However, I wouldn’t hesitate to go back. Feel free to ask any questions, and I’ll try to answer.Dan
Last edited:
Can't wait!
